"Computing Research: A National Investment for Leadership in the 21st Century" is a 1996 report from the Computing Research Association, presenting five case studies of government-support basic research creating new markets and industries. A second printing is now available from , (202) 234-2111. Individual copies are free. [CRN, Sep97, p. 11.]

The courts are starting to see suits about websites that mention a competing company's trademarks to draw search engine hits. Often the trademarks (such as "Playboy" and "Playmate") are hidden in meta-comments that the user doesn't see. "Intercepting people ... is like putting up a big sign on a freeway that says Exxon, but that's not what you find once you get there." [WSJ, 15Sep97. EduP.]

The new home page of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR) is a major reference site about ethics and proper use of information technologies. . [27Sep95.]

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) is urging support of the Digital Copyright Clarification and Technology Act of 1997 (S. 1146), as introduced by Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO), 03Sep97. It recognizes that uses or acts rather than devices are infringing, and clarifies that digital copies made in the incidental operation of a device, such as copies that a computer makes in RAM when data is accessed, are not infringing copies. It exempts network service providers from liability for transmitting the communications of others, and exempts Web links from copyright liability. (Bills S.1121 and H.R. 2281 would make illegal any device that can be used to circumvent technological protection, and allow for the impounding of any device or product believed involved in the violation.) . [Duff Axsom . Susan Evoy , comp.society.privacy, 19Sep97.]